


dance with me

by lostmemoria



Series: prompts [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, and liam bc liam needs love, and lots of allison feels, bc i will never forgive JD for acting as if allison never existed, but some references to other characters too, mostly marrish, smh, this fic revolves around prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 04:12:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2215368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostmemoria/pseuds/lostmemoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lydia Martin is upset and Jordan Parrish comforts her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	dance with me

**Author's Note:**

> anon requested: Lydia is upset and Parrish comforts her.
> 
> Hello! This is one of my longer fics and I didn't expect it would get this long so I apologize ahead of time. Also, this idea seemed great in my head but I think I sort of dragged it out but w/e, I hope you guys like it. :) And I suck at titles ik.

The upset expression on Lydia Martin’s face is evident to every deputy as she walks into the station, her heels clicking a little too hard as they hit the floor.   
  
Ever since Lydia started to help out at the station more,  _we could really use your expertise_ , Sheriff Stilinski had said to her, all the deputies had recognized the young woman as more capable than they thought, and more importantly, much smarter than the majority of them.  
  
Lydia also noticed how some of the younger deputies looked at her, she wasn’t stupid. She’s an attractive and intelligent young woman. She  _knows_  it, and she struts it. But Lydia hardly cares about any of them, because her eyes are only fixated on one specific deputy.  
  
Jordan Parrish.  
  
Lydia makes her way to the young deputy’s desk, where she finds him desperately looking for something. Lydia places down a Tupperware container that had his lunch, a chicken salad. Her upset expression barely falters as she questions him, “Uh, what are you doing Jordan?”  
  
Hearing her voice, Parrish comes up from looking through a drawer underneath his desk, and hits his head along the way. He winces. “Ow, oh, hey Lydia,” he greets, rubbing his temple. “I was looking for a file.”  
  
"Which one?" Lydia asks as she walks around him to the file cabinet.  
  
"Uh, it’s the Hudson one," he says, watching her.  
  
Lydia opens one of the cabinets, shifts through the files, and within a few moments, pulls out the desired file he needs. “Here you go.”  
  
Parrish takes the file, smiling at her, visibly impressed. “Thanks. You know the place better than I do.” When he sees her smile momentarily before her expression falls again, his brow furrows. “Are you okay? You look upset.”  
  
Lydia stares at him, surprised. Was it really that visible? She shook her head, folding her arms together protectively. “It’s…nothing,” she lies.  
  
Parrish knows she’s lying. “Hey. If you want to talk about anything, I’m here to listen.”  
  
Lydia nods, but doesn’t say anything else. Instead she sits down across from him, watching as he opens the tupperware and stabs a fork into the salad and eats. She can feel his eyes on her, as if he’s waiting for to say something, but she doesn’t meet his gaze and she doesn’t say something. She would like to tell him, tell him everything. Tell him how just around this time last year, she and her best friend had been planning to go to prom, sure they were only sophomores, but they didn’t care. But that plan didn’t go well because of the Darach, and Allison had told her,  _next year, Lyds._  
  
But then Allison died and there was no next year. Lydia didn’t think she could go to prom without Allison, but now with the event just coming up and the whole pack going, Stiles convincing her she should go, Lydia doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t have a dress, she doesn’t have a date—Scott is going with Kira and Stiles is going with Malia—but Lydia won’t mind going stag, it’s just she knows it won’t be the same without Allison.  
  
She feels tears stream down her cheeks and it surprises her that she’s actually crying in public, but what surprises her even more is when she feels a hand on her shoulder. Lydia doesn’t flinch from the touch but when she looks up and finds Parrish by her side—she wonders how long he’s been standing there—Lydia furiously wipes away the tears and gets up. “I need to go,” she says quickly as she turns away from him.  
  
"Wait, Lydia—"  
  
But she doesn’t stop,as she hurries out of the station, every deputy’s eye on her, including Parrish.  
  
  
* *  
  
Lydia ends up buying a dress. She was dragged by Kira and Malia to go dress shopping, and actually went with the intention of not buying a dress, but then she found her eyes gazing at a beautiful red dress on display. And with a little coaxing from the other two girls, Lydia bought it.  
  
And now she’s going to prom. With Liam.  
  
It was Scott’s idea, he told her that a lot has happened in the past year and that the whole pack just needed to relax now, because after all, they were just teenagers, and that included Liam. And since Liam was going to go stag anyways, Scott offered that why not the two of them go together?  
  
Lydia didn’t mind though, because it was better than being asked out by a guy who just wanted to get in her pants. She knows Liam isn’t like that and just considers her as a friend, and that’s how they’re going. Just as friends.  
  
She’s driving them to the prom venue—Liam can’t drive—which is at a place right next to the beach. It’s silent in the car and although Lydia doesn’t mind it, she feels like she should say something. She glances over at him, “You look nice.”  
  
Liams turns to her and flashes Lydia a small smile. “Thanks. You too.”  
  
She nods and thinking the conversation is going to fall flat, Lydia doesn’t say anything more. But Liam starts up again, “How do you guys do it?”  
  
Lydia quirks an eyebrow in his direction. “Do what?”  
  
Liam sighs, “Everything. How do you guys like deal with all this supernatural bullshit, but still try to be teenagers? Try to be  _normal?_  You guys have lost so many people…How can you act normal?”  
  
Lydia’s grip on the steering wheel tightens at Liam’s last sentence.  _You guys have lost so many people._  The smiling face of Allison flashes in her mind and then Aiden’s, and Lydia feels like crying, screaming, but she fights it. She always fights it. Lydia takes a deep breath and says, “We need to be normal, we need to be _grounded_ because that’s what the others would have wanted. They would have wanted us to go to school and go to prom and graduate…And go to college. They would have wanted us to live our lives…It doesn’t matter if you’re a werewolf or a banshee or a kitsune, they would have wanted us to keep going, no matter what.”  
  
"Isn’t it hard?" Liam asks.   
  
Lydia manages to smile at him. “ _Very_  hard.”  
  
  
* *  
  
They reach the venue about twenty minutes later and as Lydia steps out of her car, she glances around her, watching elegantly dressed girls walk by, and Lydia thinks about the kind of dress that Allison would have worn. It would have been a deep blue, she assumes, because Allison looked amazing in blue.  
  
She sees the rest of the pack nearby. Scott and Stiles similarly dressed in black suits, while Kira wears a purple dress with lace and Malia keeps scratching at the black fabric of her short dress. Lydia can’t help but smile at them. She watches as Liam walks over without her, and she’s about to join him when someone catches her eye.   
  
Lydia is surprised to see Jordan here, but when she looks further past him and sees other police officers and cruisers, she understands. It’s Beacon Hills. _Anything_  could happen. She only needs to look back to when Peter bit her back during winter formal of her sophomore year to understand why the police is manning the place.  
  
The redhead makes her way to the young deputy, who doesn’t notice her approaching because he’s looking the other way. It’s only when she calls his name does he turn, his former expression being replaced with one of shock, as he stares at Lydia, taking her in. “Oh—wow, Lydia, you look amazing,” he manages to muster, and then realizing what he just said, follows it up with an apology. “Sorry, I mean, I just—”  
  
Lydia looks at him, a satisfied smile forming on her face. Upon seeing this, Parrish’s cheeks turn pink. “—I’m just going to stop talking now,” he says, running a hand through his hair sheepishly.  
  
"It’s fine," Lydia says, eyes twinkling. "Thank you."  
  
Parrish smiles back. “Uh, did you come alone?”  
  
"No. I came with Liam," Lydia points to the others behind her and then adds with emphasis, "But he’s not my  _date_. We’re just going as friends.” She doesn’t know why she mentioned Liam not being her date to Parrish, she just felt like she  _had_  to.  
  
"I see," Parrish says, arms crossed as he leans against the police cruiser. "It’s nice to see you smiling again, by the way. You looked really upset the other day."  
  
Lydia blushes at this, curling a strand on hair behind her ear. “Thanks. I’m better now, I think. Or well I’m trying to be better.”  
  
Parrish nods, “You don’t have to  _try_  to be anything, Lydia. Just be you.”  
  
Lydia is surprised by his words, mostly because it’s something she needs to hear right now. “Thanks,” she says. “I…needed that.”  
  
"Anytime," he smiles.  
  
"Lydia!"  
  
The redhead turns at the call of her name. It’s Stiles and he’s waving her to come over. Lydia turns to Parrish, “I have to go. But, I’ll see you later?”  
  
"Yeah," he says with another nod and smile, "Have fun."  
  
She flashes him a smile. “I’ll try.  _And_ , I’ll save you a dance.” As she walks away, she finds herself swaying her hips a little bit more than usual, her dress teasingly flashing more leg than normal. She wonders if the deputy is looking, but she doesn’t turn to check.  
  
  
* *  
  
Lydia sits for most of the evening until Stiles and Kira drag her to the dance floor and she has to deal with Stiles dancing, which is absolutely ridiculous, but it makes her laugh and that was Stiles whole idea anyways. But when she’s tired from dancing and eventually loses Kira and Stiles from pestering her, Lydia pushes through the crowd of dancing people and goes into the hallway where it’s mostly empty, except for a few couples making out in the corner.  
  
She leans against the wall and takes out her phone from her bag, tapping at the screen until she gets to one of her photo albums. Lydia slides a finger across the screen and a picture of her and Allison pops up. She continues sliding, the numerous pictures of the two best friends flashing before her eyes. Her lip quivers and Lydia tries her best not to cry, because she’s been crying way too much lately, and also because she really doesn’t want to mess up her mascara, but—  
  
"Allison!"  
  
The name jolts through Lydia as she turns quickly to where the voice came from, and she expects to see the familiar brunette, but she’s wishing too much because it isn’t her. It can  _never_  be her.  
  
The name that she heard belonged to another brunette, whose friend was rushing to her, smiling and happy. And just seeing the two girls, who remind her so much of her and Allison, is all she needs for the held back tears to finally stream down her face. Lydia closes her eyes, leaning back against the wall, until she finds herself stumbling down to her knees and sobbing. “I miss you, Allison,” she whispers to herself. “So. Much.”  
  
As Lydia cries, she hears footsteps coming closer to her. She thinks it’s probably Kira or Stiles or even Liam coming to ask why she’s crying.  
  
"Lydia..?"  
  
The voice startles her because it doesn’t belong to Kira or Stiles or Liam or anyone from the pack. It belongs to someone else, someone she knows. Lydia looks up and behind tear drenched eyes, she sees the worried green eyes of Jordan Parrish.  
  
"Great, are you going to ask me why I’m crying now?" Lydia says, a little too harshly.  
  
Parrish crouches down so that he’s sitting against the wall beside her. “No, because if you wanted to tell me, you’d tell me on your own.”  
  
Lydia turns to face him and he gives her a soft smile. She turns away quickly and pulls out a compact from her purse, examining herself in the mirror. “Ugh, I look horrible,” she groans.  
  
"You look  _fine_ ,” Parrish tries telling her with another reassuring smile.  
  
"But I’m not fine," Lydia says as she wipes at her smudged mascara. "I was supposed to be excited about prom, excited because I was going to go with my best friend. Excited because I was going to go dress shopping with her, excited because I was going to wear matching corsages with Aiden. But  _none_  of it matters anymore because they’re gone. And they’re never coming back.”  
  
"Lydia…"  
  
A single tear rolls down Lydia’s cheek. “And, you know what? It’s not even about prom. We’ve lost so many people…,” she’s repeating Liam’s words from before. “How—How can I just  _move_  on?”  
  
Lydia feels a gentle hand on her cheek, wiping away the stray tears. She turns to Parrish who is staring at her with those soft green eyes of his. “You move on, because they would have wanted you to move on,” he says quietly, a nostalgic look falling on his face and Lydia can see that he’s thinking back to the people he lost, back in the army, in his unit. His hand retreats from her cheek and goes down to her hand, his fingers intertwining with hers, and Lydia lets him. “And if you think about it, they wouldn’t want you crying over them either.” He smiles at her before continuing, “They’d want you to remember all the good memories you had with them.”  
  
Lydia thinks back and remembers all the time she spent with Allison, even though most of it involved fighting the supernatural, she still cherishes every moment she spent with her. The two of them were different, they had gotten sucked into the whole supernatural together, and it had always been relieving to Lydia to know she wasn’t going through it alone. And then there was Aiden, and even though he was a werewolf and had his bad sides, she had loved him. She had loved both of them.  
  
She wonders if she could ever love again.  
  
"Lydia?"   
  
Parrish’s voice makes Lydia open her eyes again, almost forgetting he’s still there. “Sorry,” she says as she gets up from the wall. Parrish gets up with her.  
  
As they stand, a slow song starts to play from inside as Lydia watches the lights dim. She can imagine Scott and Kira dancing and Stiles trying to teach Malia how to slow dance. She wonders who Liam is dancing with, and then she remembers that the kid doesn’t even like to dance, so he’s probably in a corner somewhere, drinking.   
  
"Thanks," Lydia says, looking up at the deputy. "For dealing with the mess that is known as  _me_.”  
  
"You’re not a mess," he says.  
  
"I’m a _big_  mess,” Lydia emphasizes, a playful tone to her voice. “You just don’t know me well enough yet.”   
  
Parrish smiles at her and lets out a chuckle. “Then maybe, I should get to know you.”  
  
"Maybe." Lydia smiles back.  
  
There’s silence between them as they stare at one another. ”You should go back,” Parrish finally says, his eyes glancing past her to where everyone else is.  
  
"Yeah," Lydia says, and then remembering what she had told him earlier, continues, "Hey. I owe you a dance."  
  
Parrish’s eyebrow raises. “I thought you were joking about that.”  
  
"Well I wasn’t," Lydia says with a small smile. "So, dance with me."  
  
"I think I should be asking  _you_  that,” Parrish says with a grin.  
  
Lydia looks up at him with a flirty look, and even though she knows her eye makeup must be a mess, she doesn’t care, because she’s going to dance with the handsome deputy no matter how she looks like. “Then ask me,” she says coyly.  
  
"Of course," he says, extending a hand out to her. "Will you dance with me, Miss Martin?"  
  
Lydia takes his hand without a moment’s hesitation and smiles brightly, “I thought you’d never ask.”  
     
Parrish hovers a hand over Lydia’s waist, hesitant, but when Lydia moves closer to him and doesn’t tense up under his touch, he drapes the hand around her. They move together easily to the slow song, and Lydia is surprised at first because usually when she dances with a boy, they end up stepping on her foot or something. But then Lydia realizes that Parrish isn’t a boy, he’s a  _man_ and probably has experience dancing with girls. And when he twirls her smoothly, Lydia raises an appreciative eyebrow at him, impressed.  
  
They don’t just dance through one song, they dance through many songs, and before Lydia knows it, she’s smiling and laughing out loud as Parrish tells her his ridiculous prom story of how he spilled punch all over his date. And as they laugh, and as they talk, Lydia finds herself moving closer and closer to Parrish until her head is resting against his shoulder and she could feel his warm breath against her hair. The slow song is long over, but they continue to sway slowly to their own imaginary song, and Lydia doesn’t want it to end.  
  
Because, somewhere, deep inside Lydia Martin, there’s a part of her whispering,  _maybe you can love again._


End file.
